


(Talking Bout My) Best Friend

by swanqueenfic13



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Preschool AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 22:56:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6259081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanqueenfic13/pseuds/swanqueenfic13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Have you ever had a corn kernel stuck in your teeth?And you ignore it and hope it'll go away in time but it doesn't? So finally you just have to get it out because it's all you can think about and it's driving you crazy? This story was my corn kernel.</p><p>A Bechloe AU from before Beca was a little ball of hate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Talking Bout My) Best Friend

Beca Mitchell felt strongly. When she loved, she gave big hugs, and sloppy kisses on cheeks. When she was sad, she’d cry herself hoarse. When she was happy, she’d laugh until her sides hurt. When she was angry, her tantrums would stop traffic. But nothing,  _ nothing _ , could rival Beca Mitchell’s hatred.

The first time she realized what the word meant, she had been two. It was the fourth of July, and her family had been having a barbeque. Her older cousin, Mikey, was in sixth grade, but was delegated to watch the younger cousins. Beca was the youngest, and he loved to tease her. He told her blue was a boy’s color, pointing to all the grown-ups: all the mommies were wearing red, and the daddies wore blue. So Beca cried, because she was wearing blue, and didn’t want to be a boy. Then, later on, he’d locked himself in the bathroom and refused to let Beca in even when she cried that she had to go potty, and threatened to get her daddy. She never made it. When Mikey realized she had wet herself, he laughed until there were tears in his eyes, and in hers. There was a burning feeling, making her tummy hurt it was so strong. She realized later it was called  _ hate _ .

 

Beca hated preschool. She was a big girl, she didn’t want to go.

“You have to go to preschool,” her daddy sighed. She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to get out of her car seat. “Rebecca Ellen Mitchell, you get out of that car seat right now,” he orders. Beca  _ hates _ her full name. She just huffs, shaking her head. “I’m going to count to three,” he warns her. Beca’s lower lip wobbles. “One…”

“Okay!” She squeaks, hopping out of the seat. He offers her the ninja turtle backpack that Mommy had bought for her, filled with snacks, and her blankie, but she just runs ahead to the little wooden gated entrance to the preschool. He sighs, and throws the bag over his shoulder.

 

Chloe Beale felt strongly. When she was happy, her smile could make everyone around her happy. When she loved, she gave the best hugs, and made sure everyone felt her love. When she was sad, her lower lip would wobble, and her big blue eyes would fill with tears. On the rare occasions when she was angry, her redheaded temper would surface, and she’d draw every eye for her tantrum. Chloe Beale didn’t know the meaning of the word  _ hate _ .

 

Chloe was excited for preschool. It meant she got to go to school, like her big brothers. She was becoming a big girl, now.

“Chloe, you have to wait for mommy!” The woman giggled, chasing Chloe down the sidewalk to the little wooden gate that separated the preschool’s front blacktop area from the street. Her princess backpack hung low on her shoulders, and Chloe’s red pigtails bounced with every step.

“Mommy! I gotta go to pweschool!” Chloe urges her. She still hadn’t picked up on pronouncing her r’s. Amy Beale was unsure if she should take her to a speech therapist, or if Chloe would kick the habit on her own. She was only three, after all. She just smiles, shaking her head at her daughter, and leads her through the gate.

 

“Good morning!” A voice chirped when Beca walked into the room. It was painted green, which is her favorite color, so that’s good. And there’s lots of toys. Beca can see a play kitchen, a train table, a water and sand table, and a big corner with a bunch of books. When the chirpy woman leans down to Beca, holding out her hand, Beca frowns. “I’m Miss Aubrey,” she says. Beca reaches out a hand, shaking it before she takes her bag from her dad, dropping it in a cubby with a picture of a kitten on it, and running off to the train table.

“Well, looks like she doesn’t need me,” Beca can hear her dad laugh. He comes over to drop a kiss on the top of her head. “See you later, kiddo.”

“Bye daddy,” she calls as he leaves. Miss Aubrey, a pretty blonde lady with green eyes comes to kneel next to Beca.

“Are you excited for preschool?” She asks. Beca wrinkles her nose.

“I  _ hate _ preschool. It’s for babies,” she sighs. Miss Aubrey, taken aback, just looks at her for a minute.

“Well, dear, preschool isn’t for babies. It’s for big kids who get to learn. And hate is a very strong word, Rebecca. Little kids like you shouldn’t use it since they don’t know what it means.” Beca just inhales sharply, pursing her lips as she turns to Miss Aubrey.

“That’s not my name! I  _ hate _ that name! My name is Beca!” She insists, stomping her foot.

“Beca, that’s not a nice word. I’ve asked you not to use it. Now I’m telling you. We don’t use words like ‘hate’ in this classroom.” She pauses, waiting for Beca to say something. “Beca, the rule in our classroom says that whenever a teacher says something to you,or tells you something, or asks you a question, you need to respond. So can you say ‘yes, Miss Aubrey’ or ‘okay, Miss Aubrey’?”

“Yes, Miss Aubrey,” Beca sighs. Aubrey smiles, standing to greet the next family who walked through the door.

 

“Mommy, I’m late!” Chloe sighs, hearing all of the other kids playing inside. When they get inside, they’re greeted by two ladies with brown hair, one taller than the other. One has her hair curled, and the other has it pulled up in a bun. “Hi!” Chloe squeaks.

“Hi,” the taller girl says, bending down to look at Chloe. “I’m Miss Stacie, and this is Miss Emily. That’s Miss Aubrey, over there, with the blonde ponytail. Who are you?”

“I’m Chloe!” She giggles, looking around. “Can I put my pwincess bag down, Momma?” She shakes the bag a little to show it off. As Miss Stacie leads her to the row of cubbies where Chloe puts her bag in a cubby with a puppy sticker on it, next to a teenage mutant ninja turtles backpack, she can hear her mommy talking to Miss Emily. Chloe gets this icky little feeling in her belly when her mom explains how she can’t talk right, and she worries the other kids will tease her. She looks out into the room, and her eyes widen when she sees all of the toys.

“A kitchen!” She squeals, running across the room to the plastic play kitchen. She turns to call to her mom, ask her to play, too. But she doesn’t see her. “Mommy?” She asks quietly. Looking out the window, Chloe sees her mom going back to the car, her red hair standing out. “Mommy,” she whispers again, tears filling her eyes.

 

Beca notices this girl as soon as she walks in.

Beca had been sitting in the corner with the books, looking at all of the pretty pictures. She knew the letters of the alphabet, and knew how to write the letters, but she wasn’t good at reading without someone there helping her. As soon as the girl in the pink sparkly dress with the red pigtails and big blue eyes came in, she hid behind the book, pretending not to watch as this girl put her backpack next to Beca’s, ran to the play kitchens, then turned around and saw her mommy had left. Her face had immediately fallen, and she leaned forward so that her hair covered it. But Beca could see how her face was turning red, her lower lip wobbling as she tried not to make a sound. Beca, who’d been avoiding everyone else ever since a bigger boy had pushed her and taken her trains, ran over to her.

“Why you crying?” Beca asks quietly. The redhead just lets out a squeak as the tears start to fall down her cheeks. Beca hates hugging strangers, because they hug too tight, and she doesn’t like it. But Beca rushes to hug this girl, hold her tight. She starts to whimper now.

“I-I want my m-m-mommy,” she cries. “Sh-she l-left!”

“My daddy left, too,” Beca tells her.

“You n-not sad-d?” The little girl hiccups. Beca shrugs, still hugging her.

“A little. But he’s coming back. Mommies and Daddies always come back to pick us up. ‘S like, their  _ job _ ,” Beca smiles, pulling away. “I’m Beca.”

“C-Chloe,” she sniffles, smiling now.

“My daddy packed me a blankie for if I get lonely. Did your mommy pack you something like that?” Beca asks, whispering. She doesn’t want any of the other kids to know about her blankie.

“N-no,” she whispers. “I packed my stuffed ducky, but Mommy didn’t want me to lose him, so he stayed in the car.”

“You can use my blankie. If you need it,” Beca offers shyly. Chloe grins, wiping her runny nose with the back of her hand.

“Oh Chloe, what happened? Beca, what did you do?” Miss Aubrey asks, running over. Beca scowls.

“I missed my mom,” Chloe explains, but smiles, reaching out to hold Beca’s hand. “Beca helped me. Can I have a tissue, Miss Au-bee?” The blonde teacher just nods.

 

“Hey!” Beca shouted. It was snack time, halfway through the morning. She had been forced to spend the first two hours singing welcome songs, and learning each others’ names. Beca had liked listening to Chloe sing, and her friend had stayed next to her the entire morning. Miss Stacie and Miss Emily were going around passing out juice boxes and animal crackers. But the boy who took her trains that morning just snatched her bag of crackers, squishing it in his fist.

“Hey!” He mocks.

“You broke my animal crackers,” she accuses, looking around to see if any of the teachers saw. But no one is looking.

“So what?” He asks, running a hand through his brown hair. His eyes are narrowed meanly, and he looks around at the other kids, laughing.

“You  _ broke _ my animal crackers! That’s not nice!” She hisses at him, her tiny hands clenching into fists.

“You gonna hit me, little girl? You’re three.  _ I’m _ almost five years old,” he brags. Beca doesn’t hate a lot of things. Except for her cousin Mikey. But she really,  _ really hates  _ when people call her little. So, she does hit him. Her fist hits him in the tummy, and he bends over, crying. Someone screams, and the teachers come running over.

“Rebecca Mitchell, did you hit him?” Miss Aubrey asks, grabbing Beca by the elbow while Miss Stacie takes care of the boy, and Miss Emily gets the other kids to back up. Chloe stays, clinging to Beca.

“He bwo- he smashed her snack!” Chloe defends. Beca nods.

“Chloe, go sit with the other kids. Beca, you do not hit. If you have a problem with another student, you come to the teachers, got it?” Miss Aubrey scolds. Chloe pouts, and goes to stand with the other kids. Beca’s lower lips wobbles; she  _ hates _ when people get upset at her because it always makes her cry.

“Yes Miss Aubrey,” she says softly.

“I want you to apologize to Bumper.”

“Will he ‘pologize for breaking my animal crackers?” Beca asks softly, sniffling. Miss Aubrey softens, nodding.

“Yes, he will. Now, go say sorry.” Beca turns to Bumper, who’s standing now.

“I’m sorry for hitting you,” she mumbles, digging her toe into the ground. He glares at her until Miss Stacie nudges him.

“Sorry for smashing your snack,” he grumbles. 

“Now, both of you need to go in for a time-out,” Miss Aubrey adds. Beca whirls around, pouting again, tears filling her eyes. Time-outs are  _ awful _ . Miss Aubrey leads her to a chair in the corner, sitting Bumper down in the opposite corner. Beca crosses her arms over her chest, swinging her feet while she watches the other kids using their free play time to run around and play pretend.

 

Chloe likes free play time, but the first few minutes were weird.

She plays with some other kids, two little girls named Jessica and Ashley (Chloe doesn’t know which one is which, and is afraid to ask). They’re playing in the kitchen when Beca comes running over, shyly asking to play. Beca doesn’t really know how to play kitchen, so Chloe tells her what to do. 

After playtime was over, they did group work, learning the alphabet and saying everyone’s names. Some of the boys snickered when Chloe mispronounced her rs, but no one said anything. Not until recess.

After lunch, the teachers let them out into the backyard, a fenced-in area with a playground, a playhouse, and a swing set. Chloe grabbed onto Beca’s hand, running over to the swings. They had been taking turns pushing each other on the swings before someone invited them to play a game. Beca didn’t understand how to play “red rover,” so Chloe explained it.

“It’s not ‘wed wovah,’ it’s  _ red rover _ ,” a boy snickers. He’s standing next to Bumper, and they’re both laughing. Beca thinks his name is Donald, like the duck. She doesn’t like the way Chloe’s lower lip juts out as he says this, the way she suddenly stops talking, biting her thumbnail and looking down.

“You’re being mean!” Beca accuses, standing in front of Beca.

“Nu-uh!” Donald says, sticking his tongue out.

“Yeah, she can’t talk right! She talks like a baby!” Bumper adds. Some of the other kids giggle, and Chloe’s face turns as red as her hair.

“You guys are big meanies! Chloe’s the biggest big kid I’ve ever seen! She knows all her ABC’s, and she can write her name, and she can whistle, and she can color really really pretty, and she can go super high on the swings, and she can do lots of stuff!” Beca stomps her foot.

“Hey Chloeeee,” Bumper taunts, drawing out the vowel. She steps out from behind Beca, and Bumper snickers, elbowing Donald. “Can you say my name?”

“Bumpuh,” she says shyly. He laughs, and she starts to cry, running away. Beca wants to hit Bumper for making Chloe cry. Her hands are balled up in fists before she remembers what Miss Aubrey said, so she runs over to where the teachers are standing, chatting near the door to the classroom.

“Miss Aubrey, Miss Stacie, Bumper’s being a meany! He made Chloe cry!” She says quickly. Miss Stacie walks over to where Bumper and Donald are still laughing, and Miss Aubrey leans down next to Beca.

“What happened, Beca?” She asks. Beca tells the story quickly, pulling her blonde teacher’s hand as they go to the opposite corner of the playground where Chloe was huddled inside the empty playhouse. She was still sniffling, running one of her hands over the fake blue windowpane. When Chloe saw Beca and Miss Aubrey come crawling through the plastic door, Chloe drew her knees to her chest and rubbing her eyes with her knuckles.

“You okay, Chloe?” Miss Aubrey asks. “We’re going to make Bumper apologize, and we’re going to talk to his parents. We don’t like teasing here.”

“Mkay,” Chloe sniffles. Aubrey, who is scrunched up on her knees, neck hunched over just to fit, smiles.

“Okay, good. I’m gonna go where there’s some more space. You guys play for a while, okay? We have quiet time when we go back inside,” she says, patting Chloe’s knee before awkwardly crawling backwards out into the playground. 

“Wanna go play tag?” Beca asks, holding out her hand. Chloe shakes her head. 

“Can we play house instead?” She asks. Beca doesn’t like playing house much; her cousins always made her be the baby, or the dog, or the daddy. But she’ll play house for Chloe, so she just nods.

 

“Beca,” Chloe whispers, poking her friend. They had been lying on the thin blue mats on the floor for five minutes now. The lights had been dimmed, and the teachers were playing classical music over the speakers to soothe everyone. Miss Stacie said they didn’t  _ have _ to sleep, but they did have to be quiet and relax. But Beca was tired, and she closed her eyes, until Chloe started poking her.

“What?” Beca breathes, not wanting to get caught by the teachers. They aren’t supposed to be talking during quiet time.

“Where’s your blankie?” Beca stands, gesturing for Chloe to follow. Miss Emily goes to ask what they’re doing, but Miss Aubrey waves her away, watching as Beca pulls the white blanket, covered in ducks and frogs and elephants, out of her bag and hands it to Chloe. She smiles while the two girls hurry back to their mats and settle back down. Chloe drapes the blanket over the both of them, clutching one corner in her fist, thumb in her mouth as both girls close their eyes.

 

When Chloe’s mommy picks her up, Chloe tells her all about her new best friend, Beca, and the cool games they played. She tells her quietly about the boy who’d teased her, but rushes to tell mommy about how Beca had saved her. The way Chloe tells it, Beca is a beautiful knight in shining armor, always helping. Chloe doesn’t notice how surprised her mother is when she points to the tiny brunette standing in a corner by herself. How could this tiny thing be such a brave kid, willing to go up against the bigger boys? 

When Beca’s daddy picks her up, he asks why she got into trouble. She starts to cry about how Bumper is such a meany, and it isn’t her fault, and please don’t be mad daddy. He can’t stay mad at his little girl, so he asks if she made any new friends. Her eyes light up and she kicks her feet along to the music as she talks about the girl with the red pigtails, and the big blue eyes. He smiles in the rearview mirror, glad to see that his daughter is happy, but worries about what will happen if this Chloe girl ever breaks Beca’s heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, okay, I'm terrible right now about updating. But, some of my college stress might be gone because I just found out I was offered a full scholarship to one of my schools. Once that decision is made, I should be able to get back to a semi-regular updating schedule.


End file.
